This semester, I am taking a turfgrass science class. Can you hear the raging excitement in my voice? (Not!) However, a Horticulture credit is required for my degree, and I have a test next week, so I figured I would multitask by making this blog post to compare some of the most common grass types…. and call it studying. All jokes aside, the turfgrass industry is actually ginormous (over $45 billion in revenue annually!) and plays a really important role in our lives whether we realize it or not. Sports fields, home lawns, and even road sides strategically use turf to get maximum aesthetic qualities. Because it is such a competitive business, there are lots of companies that push their grass as the best by making false claims (sound familiar? That sounds like something I would write about, hmm…). The chart below reflects research carried out by many different universities through experiments of side-by-side comparisons. It’s important to note that different climates, soil properties, and care methods will yield different results, and there’s not necessarily one grass that’s better than all the others. The turfgrass field is more about figuring out what works in your particular circumstances. Before planting, you should have your soil tested for pH, grain size, and presence of microorganisms, as well as having a good understanding of your local precipitation, seasonal variations, and water quality. However, in a nutshell, here are the characteristics of fourteen different grasses:
If this is a topic that is of interest, or if you would like more information on a particular grass, definitely head on over to my social medias and tell me about it! I have a lot more notes (an entire semesters worth…) as well as access to some experts in the field (pun intended!) that I can ask. Or, if you’re like me and are thinking, “It’s grass, just water it!” then hang tight—I have some things that are a lot more fun in the works.